Computers are often linked together through networks to allow the resources of a computer at one location to be utilized by users located at a different location. In a distributed environment such as this, computers known as servers perform various tasks for client computers that communicate with the servers over a network. Servers enable sharing of files and other resources between client computers and the server. As an example, a world wide web (“web”) server may provide text, graphics, and other resources to client computers over the Internet.
It is often necessary to manage the operation of a server computer. For instance, it is often desirable to view information regarding the relative health of a server computer. This is especially true for server computers that maintain resources that are utilized by a large number of client computers, such as within a corporate network or the internet. For many conventional systems, the technician that needs to view the screen displays and interact with the server being managed is required to be physically located at the site of the server. However, it is not always feasible for a technician to be physically present at the location of the server computer.
For example, a system administrator of a corporate network may be present at one location while the servers of the corporate network may be spread around the country or even the globe. To effectively manage the servers on the corporate network, the system administrator must be able to monitor each of the server computers, regardless of their location. Because the system administrator cannot be physically present at each server to be managed, effective management of the server computers becomes very difficult if not impossible. As a result, it can be very costly to maintain servers located in disparate physical locations.
Some systems for remotely administering server computers utilize an integrated or add-in management device. Such a management device can provide remote access to detailed information regarding the health and status of a managed server computer. In some cases, the management device can also redirect the video output from the server computer to a remote location and allow keyboard and mouse input to be provided to the server from the remote location. In some implementations, the management device may also include a baseboard management controller (“BMC”). In general, a BMC is a microcontroller that monitors the health and operation of the computer. In one implementation, a BMC monitors health-related aspects associated with the computer such as the temperature of components within the computer, the speed of rotational components (e.g., spindle motor, CPU fan, etc.) within the system, the voltage across or applied to one or more components within the system, and the available or used capacity of memory devices within the system. Other parameters may also be monitored.
In order to make the data gathered by the BMC available to programs and to other computer systems, a standard called the Intelligent Platform Management Interface (“IPMI”) has been created. IPMI is an industry standard for system monitoring and event recovery. The IPMI specification provides a common message-based interface for accessing all of the manageable features in a compatible computer. IPMI includes a rich set of predefined commands for reading temperature, voltage, fan speed, chassis intrusion, and other parameters. System event logs, hardware watchdogs, and power control can also be accessed through IPMI. In this manner, IPMI defines protocols for accessing the various parameters collected by a BMC through an operating system or through an external connection, such as through a network or serial connection.
In order for a host computer to transfer data to, and to receive data from, a BMC, one of several system interfaces must be utilized. For instance, if the host computer desires to upgrade the firmware of the BMC, the host computer must utilize a system interface to do so. IPMI traditionally defines only three possible system interfaces: a keyboard controller style (“KCS”) interface; a system management interface chip (“SMIC”) interface; and a block transfer (“BT”) interface. Each of these interfaces, however, can be very slow. In particular, KCS interfaces are based on a legacy keyboard controller interface that is extremely slow. Unfortunately, no other communications channels are supported by IPMI for use as a system interface.
Therefore, an unaddressed need exists in the art to address the aforementioned deficiencies and inadequacies.